City of San Jose - Economic Development - Property Search for Site Selectors

Additional information on our business assistance programs and other resources for businesses can be found here.

Business Assistance Programs
Program	Type of Assistance	Benefit	Restrictions
Enterprise Zone	Sales & Use Tax Credit	Corporations may claim a credit equal to the sales and use tax paid or incurred on the first $20 million of the cost of equipment purchased or leased. S Corporations and individuals may claim the credit for up to $1 million in cost.	Only available to locations within the 12 square mile Enterprise Zone (map)
	Hiring Tax Credit	Tax credit of up to $37,440 per employee over 5 years for companies hiring persons from one of 13 eligibility categories may claim tax credits on wages paid to those employees for five years.
	Business Expense Deductions	A deduction of up to $20,000 is available for certain tangible property used exclusively in the Enterprise Zone.
	Net Operating Loss Carryover	100% of net operating losses can be carried over up to 15 years to reduce the amount of taxable income levels paid in subsequent years.
	Net Interest Deduction for Lenders	Lenders may receive a tax deduction on the amount of "net interest" earned on loans made to businesses located in the Enterprise Zone.
Foreign Trade Zone	Delay, reduction or elimination of duty payments on foreign merchandise	No duties are paid while foreign merchandise is in the Foreign Trade Zone. Duty rates are often higher on components rather than for a finished product. If a component enters the Foreign Trade Zone and is then used in the assembly of a finished product, the duty rate on the finished product is assessed, rather than the higher duty rate on the component. No duties are paid on foreign merchandise entering a Foreign Trade Zone and are then exported.	General Purpose Foreign Trade Zone is located in a 330,000 square-foot warehouse building in San Jose. Larger-scale distribution or manufacturing facilities can apply to receive a Subzone designation.
Workforce Assistance	Employment Training Panel Fund (ETP)	State of California Employment Training Panel (ETP) provides funding for employer-supported workforce development/training by redistributing, through a competitive application process, a small percentage of funds paid into the Unemployment Insurance Fund by private sector employers.	Limited availability
Business Cooperation Program	Use Tax Reimbursement	Participating company allocates Use Tax associated with equipment purchase and the City will reimburse up to 30% of the Use Tax allocated from the project for up to 5 years.	None
Industrial Development Bonds	Municipal Bond Financing	Low cost, tax exempt bonds available to eligible manufacturers finance virtually all costs incurred by the company for its project. Rates historically average 1.5% to 2% below the prime rate. $10 million bond cap and up to $20 million project cap for equipment purchases.	Company may not have more than $40.0 million in IDB's outstanding nationwide. Letter of credit from a bank rated “A” or better is used to support the bond issuance. One job created or retained within two years of issuance for every $50,000 financed.
Permitting Assistance	Special Tenant Improvement Program	Dedicated review team, assembled from key City departments, to address all development review issues in a single, expedited review meeting	1.5 times the current plan review fee (1 hour minimum)
Permitting Assistance	Industrial Tool Installation Program	Dedicated review team, assembled from key City departments, to address all development review issues in a single, expedited review meeting	1.5 times the current plan review fee (1 hour minimum)

Recognizing the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) data standards as the industry standard for the site selection process, the San Jose Office of Economic Development has prepared these standards, with upwards of 1,200 data elements contained in 25 spreadsheets, for your convenience in site selection.